The present invention relates to an electronically controlled camera in which the power supply can be automatically stopped if the operating state of the camera has been unchanged for a predetermined period of time.
Conventionally, in an electronically controlled camera, the power thereof is supplied and the camera is set to its operable state when a power supply button is depressed, and the power supply is stopped when the power supply button is depressed again. In such an electronically controlled camera, for instance, the lens is accommodated int eh camera and the main CPU thereof is operated in a low power consumption mode.
The lens comes out when the power is turned on, and the state of the main CPU thereof is shifted to the operating state in which a relatively large amount of power consumed. If the power is continually supplied unintentionally, the battery is wasted. Furthermore, the lens is kept at its drawn out position, which is not preferable in view of protection of the lens. Therefore, when the operating state of a camera has been kept unchanged for a predetermined period of time under the power supplied condition, the power supply is automatically prohibited. Then the operating state of the camera can be set to a predetermined initial state by resupplying the power.
However, it is more preferable that when the power supply is automatically interrupted, the camera is set to the preceding operating state which is the state before the power supply has been automatically prohibited.